Friday, February 10th

Computers:
It was an EXCELLENT week in Computers as we transformed the Weckies into Bloggers! You should have received two documents at home this week – one blogging contract and one direction sheet for accessing the blog! As the kids become more familiar with the routine of logging on, you may find that they will be excellent resources to help you access the blog and leave comments! If you need this information again, please feel free to drop me a note/email and I can send more directions home. If you have visited the blog, you will notice a map and a globe where we keep track of visitors around the WORLD (literally) who will visit our blog! Enjoy the slideshow below highlighting our first blogging experience!

A picture slideshow by Smilebox

Reader’s Workshop:
This week in Workshop two different things were happening simultaneously! New reading groups have formed and each group has met at least one time to start on a new book. Please remember, if a book comes home more than one time in a row, we are using that book to work on building fluency in our readers. Paying attention to punctuation, voice of the characters and reading new words smoothly is all being practiced with a re-read of a book. Also this week in Workshop we did a Character Study. We spent time looking into the actions and statements made by a character in a book. We made inferences based on these statements and actions activating our own prior knowledge about the character. We even took a look at how a character’s behavior can change over time in a story.


Writer’s Workshop:
This week in Writer’s Workshop we continued our work on a personal narrative, a small moment. Each child has selected a small moment to edit and revise, stopping to make sure that their narrative not only includes: a good lead, actions, a problem and a solution but also includes “inner” thoughts – how the character was feeling, what the character was thinking, what the character was wondering. Next we used Revising and Editing Checklists to help us: create a title, use more exact words, take out confusing parts, fix spelling, add missing punctuation and make sure the sequence of our story made sense.


Math Workshop:
In Math this week we have been looking at fractions (naming the numerator and denominator), equivalent fractions and fractions of groups. We have been learning how different fractional amounts can mean the same thing, such as ¼ is the same as 2/8! This is a tricky concept for most 2nd graders (especially fractions of groups) and it is helpful for them to use hands-on manipulatives, including: counters, pennies, cereal, etc. This is still a developing concept for 2nd grade.

Word Study:
In Word Study this week have looked at patterns in words that end with a short vowel followed by a consonant when adding “-ed” and “-er” endings. Learning to take words like: jog  jogged or run runner has been the focus of Word Study this week. We looked at words that already end in “e” such as “write” and realized we only have to add the “d” or the “r” ending. Then we looked at words with consonant clusters at the end such as teach and learned you only have to add an “ed” or “er” ending. Last we ended the week making “Word Ladders”… we use them to make new words from existing words. For instance, if we have the word trip at the top of the ladder, we can do tree right below because it has the tree and next we could write three because of the last three letters and so on!


Social Studies:
In Social Studies this week we shared our findings from our homework assignment that compared schools in the past to schools today. We added our findings to a classroom Venn Diagram. Second graders were shocked to find that students in the past had three recesses everyday! As a class, we revisited the changes in East Lake Drive (formerly known as Main Street) in Walled Lake and jotted them down in a t-chart. We then used this graphic organizer to write a paragraph describing three ways that Walled Lake’s Main Street has changed between 1900 and 2007. Learning how to write using a compare/contrast text structure will be useful as they grow as writers.


Science:
Air and Weather is the focus for the last science unit. The kids explored air using cotton balls, feathers, straws, baggies, paper, styrofoam balls, and balloons. Many interesting inventions were made… a dancing cotton ball in the baggie and sucking up the objects using the straw, just to name a few. The next lesson we used a tub of water to explore. Students had to make bubbles using a vial, keep a paper towel dry in a vial, move air from one vial to another, and transfer a foam ball from one vial to another all under water. WHEW- all in one day! The scientists realized that air was captured in the vial with the paper towel, so water couldn’t get in as long as air was taking up space.


Air Toy homework is due February 16th.


Rain gauge- extra credit homework is due on February 29th.


A special Thank You!
Over the past two weeks I have been working feverishly on a “Donor’s Choose” grant where we would be receiving $600 in grant money to purchase two Apple iPod Touch for our classroom… and today, we received a package in the mail from Best Buy!!! :-) More to come next week!! Thank you to all who donated and voted for our project! These iPods are going to be an incredible teaching and learning tool!


Important Dates/Reminders:
Tuesday, February 14th – Valentine’s Day Party 2:30-3:30pm in Room 204 :-)

Friday, February 17th – Last Day of School before February Break… 100th Day of School (look for a note coming home today about this!!)


February 18-26th – February Break – NO SCHOOL


February 27th- First Day Back AND Field Trip to the Outdoor Center!!(Please remember to dress your child for the weather as we WILL be going outside. They will also need one long fuzzy sock!)